Civility Not Censorship

1. Chavez's intent in the first six words, "Civility in public discourse is important" is telling us, as a society, that how we interact and communicate with one another is something we should all be very conscious and cautious about. People in society should take the way they act due to things that have been said very seriously.


2.  Chavez used the word "bellicose" in her article because it gives a stronger meaning to the context of what she is trying to get across to people. She was talking about how metaphors and phrases for politics have come from certain words that have an aggressive or hostile meaning.  Instead of just using the word "hostile" or "terms for fighting", she enhanced the article's meaning by her good choice of diction. Knowing what bellicose means, it gives a stronger meaning to the word.  


3. A)  Chavez is trying to persuade the reader into believing that the media and politics should not have to start censoring what they say. She is saying that what happened in Tuscon had absolutely nothing to do with what has been previously said in politics. Also, she points out that not do the words themselves affect the society, but it is the context and intent of the words that causes issues.


    B) The best example Chavez uses is the example where she shows that the word "gay" has been turned from meaning happy to being a term of slang toward homosexuals. Over the generations, the word has taken on a new meaning.  That does not mean we should refrain from saying it. We can still use "gay" as another word for happy and society can take that however they would like.

4. I agree with Chavez's arguments and examples. I think she did a very good job using those examples to explain and persuade why her opinion should be the one people agree with. My opinion is that we should be able to say statements, phrases, and words freely. Things that people say are how they express their feelings and just because society takes the context of it and may spin it around, take it offensively, and blame terms or phrases that people use on negative things that happen in our country, does not mean we should be have to sensor what we say. We are a free country and should be able to use freedom of speech in the media and politics. Issues do not come out of what we say, but come out of how people interpret what was said. This doesn’t mean we should stop using certain phrases.